Baptism
Christian baptism is done because it is a sacrament - Jesus himself was baptized by John to begin his public ministry, yes, but more importantly, he told us to
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20a
These were Jesus' final instructions before he ascended into heaven - often called the Great Commision, it explains why Christianity has such a focus on making converts. But it also explains why baptism is a sacrament (not just for Catholics) - it is explicitly connected to becoming a Christian. The grace of baptism is how you join the Church.
The practice of infant baptism developed fairly early on. At first, the religion grew by converts only - none of the early Christians were "born" Christian, of course! Families would convert (mostly adults, but since they speak of "households" that would mean kids too) and all be baptized and the apostles would lay on hands so they could receive the Holy Spirit (what we now call confirmation).
As time went on, families who were already Christian had to figure out what to do with their new kids - how do you initiate the next generation? Also, as time went on, the instructions that new (adult) converts received prior to baptism became more structured. A logistics problem arose, as well - the bishop was responsible for welcoming new members (laying on hands), but he could not be everywhere at once. This situation was dealt with by separating the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. Baptism could be given to babies by the local church (no bishop needed), but then confirmation was reserved for the "adult" members, and the bishop would handle that when he visited the church. Adult converts still received both together.
For Catholics, there are three sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation. In the Orthodox church, you can receive all three as a baby, though they will not let you receive Eucharist again until you have reached the age of reason. Their biblical basis for this is Jesus' command to let the little children come to him, and not to hinder them. Baptism and Confirmation are two parts of the same sacrament - you only receive each once. Baptism does cleanse the soul of original sin, and begins your life of grace in Christ. Confirmation seals you with the Holy Spirit. They complement one another, really. Baptism is allowed without individual consent, because it is seen as an opportunity to share in God's life (grace), and the consent of the parents is needed. You are
not allowed to go around randomly baptizing other people's kids! Eucharist is generally reserved until you've reached the age of reason (7 or 8, though the age used to be 12), and confirmation is saved for you to make an adult commitment to the faith (though again, you must have reached the age of reason). Sacraments are not withheld, because they provide graces, and it is considered very bad to deny someone graces. So, if a child requests confirmation, it is occasionally granted. It is the decision of the bishop, though, whether any individual is ready to receive a sacrament.
People who want to be "rebaptized" are often looking for a way to start over. After all, if they lost their faith for a time and just recently renewed it, they want some "sign" that they've started again. Catholics have the sacrament of reconciliation, which offers forgiveness of sins and a renewal of the relationship of faith. I do not know if the Protestant denominations that offer multiple baptisms have anything like this - I guess it would depend upon the particular church.
Baptism is related, of course, to how you get into heaven. Luckily, that question has a very straightforward answer:
Jesus.
The nuance is in the interpretation, as always. All Christians are agreed that the only way anyone can get into heaven is because Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. Without that, we're all, well....out of luck.
So, his role is crystal clear
The question arises, though, okay, great, so what do we have to do to get that to apply to us?
The answers are divided.
Some Christians will say that you can't do anything - God just picks some people to get into heaven, and you just have to hope you are a lucky one. At least, that is my very informal understanding of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Since I don't believe it, I've probably explained it poorly.
Others will say that you have to be baptized, ie, officially become a Christian, and then die in a state of grace (no mortal sin on your soul). Since everyone is born with original sin (as
Hobby mentioned), you need baptism to meet that criteria. Hence the panic to get sickly babies baptized ASAP.
Other people will say that you need to believe in your heart and confess with your tongue that Jesus Christ is lord - a personal declaration of faith.
But no one (I hope) really thinks it is that cut and dry.
Basically, it is asking the wrong question. Much better to ask, "How should I live my life?" than to ask "How do I get into heaven when I die?"
Christians believe that Jesus is the judge, determining who gets into heaven and who does not. He explained the criteria he will use to do that in this parable:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46
The warning here is clear: if you think you've got his system figured out, and you check off the boxes "Baptised?
<check> Confessed Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior?
<check> Joined the one true Church?
<check> Do whatever people told me I had to do to get into heaven?
<check> ...." you might be in for a rude surprise on judgement day
. Jesus judges hearts. And while it
is true that you need these things - you have to be "righteous" for instance - how you get there is not a matter of jumping through hoops.
Now, obviously, it is a job of the Churches to teach people how to do this correctly. I am not suggesting that the items on the "checklist" don't matter. I'm just saying it shouldn't be treated as a checklist. A pretty obvious way to accept God's grace would be to seek out baptism. But is it the
only way? And are we really going to say for certain that that is
the way Jesus will judge it?
In short, no. The Catholic Church does teach that baptism is necessary for salvation. But, there are some exceptions
. There is something called "baptism of desire". This includes people who
wanted to be baptized, but did not have a chance to receive the sacrament before their death. It also includes those who
would have wanted to be baptized, had they known that this was in accord with God's will.
As soon as you admit that, it is clear that we cannot place any limits on who can be saved. No one can be saved except through Jesus - but even someone who has never heard of Jesus can still be saved by his death and resurrection. It is a mystery, but we trust God to sort that out
.
Mel Gibson belongs to a group that is an offshoot of the Catholic Church, but currently in schism, I believe. This group does teach that you must be a Catholic to go to heaven. But, well, celebrities tend to have very odd religious beliefs. This reminds me of a joke I heard as a kid:
St. Peter is giving someone a tour of heaven, showing them all the different houses. He then says "shhhh, we have to be quiet." After they walk by the house, he explains, "the Baptists live in that one. They think they're the only people here."
The Catholic Church teaches that there is no salvation outside the Church - but that just means that everyone who is saved is saved through the Church, whether they know it or not
. In other words, calling yourself "Christian" is not the important part.
Being a Christian is, but only if Christian is defined as "true follower of Christ" - and only if Jesus gets to say who his true followers are!
Of course, this does not mean that everybody is saved. Anyone who chooses to reject Jesus and salvation...well, has the power to do so.
These ideas are explained more fully by the Vatican (surprise, surprise):
Dominus Iesus
(and in
German)
So, what happens to a very good man who declared himself to be an atheist? Only God knows. Being good (alone) does not get you into heaven, because of course you need to accept grace to do that. But I will
not presume to know that man's heart. If his life was truly that radiant, then I would think that must involve God's grace shining through. I do not mean to downplay what he said - he may have been very adamant in his belief that there was no God. But all goodness comes from God, and so the two must be inextricably related. In the parable, it is the people who did loving deeds, but did not realize they were serving Christ, who get into heaven. That has to bode well for people like him...
What is wrong with Christianity today? We are too soft, too timid. None of us would stand outside in the snow for three days to show our repentence. We are too attached to creature comforts and cannot handle the poverty - that complete trust that God will provide. I know this will sound ridiculously callous - but just to make the point, many Christians lost their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Do all of them say, "wow, we survived, praise God!" and move on with their lives? Umm, no. Many of them are upset by their damaged homes and losing all their stuff...and are having trouble keeping their marriages and families together on account of this. I am
not condemning them! I know it's only human, and I would behave much worse, I am sure. But, as an outsider, it is easy enough to see that sacrificing relationships over stuff is hardly "Christian." Christianity demands a lot of things that are impossibly hard, and I understand why Job is a book in the Bible. I think that many Christians give up a bit too easily when faced with anything that requires fortitude, or moral fibre, or whatever - myself included. I speak of American Christians, because those are the ones I know
. The Church in other parts of the world likely has different problems.
Yikes, I don't like the way that sounded. Honestly, I know it is awful to lose your house. My aunt and uncle's family lost all of their possessions in a house fire. I'm not trying to say that this is some trifle! And obviously, the Christian response isn't to say "hmmm, if you were a good person, your reaction would be --------" The Christian thing to do is to
help people in need, not judge them! I just had to pick some example of what I meant...
A better example
The worst sin (ever) is pride. Pride is what makes us think we are so great, of course...but it is also what leads to evil in thinking we are so
right. Conviction is not a bad thing - but conviction coupled with pride (or fear) can be horrible. Cultivating a sense of "orthodoxy" (some beliefs are right, others are wrong) should not be done apart from cultivating a spirit of humility...which leads to genuine love of others, and compassion...not judgement and slaughter.
The weaknesses of any time reflect the weaknesses of the culture and the society. It is no surprise that the Crusades happened in Western Europe at a time when warfare was a way of life, as common as breathing. Soldiers who refrained from killing other Christians were doing really good....
And it is no surprise that slavery was accepted when a culture accepted that some human beings weren't really people....
And it is no surprise that respect for the sick and the elderly does not exist in a culture that thinks we can solve the problems of aging, and wants to hide from death.
Culture makes some virtues easy, and others difficult. Part of the measure of a good culture is one that encourages virtue, not depravity. But it is difficult to step outside your own time and place - who knows what the future will see us as?
It was all that confirmation class, you know—having the grace of God pounded into us. . . .
